Draghi says ECB to act quickly to raise inflation if needed

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi on Friday said the ECB would act quickly to raise inflation if needed.

Speaking at the European Banking Congress 2015 here, Draghi said, "If we decide that the current trajectory of our policy is not sufficient to achieve our objective, we will do what we must to raise inflation as quickly as possible."

The ECB would assess the strength and persistence of the factors that are slowing the return of inflation towards 2 percent, the target level of the central bank, at its governing council meeting in December. "If we conclude that the balance of risks to our medium-term price stability objective is skewed to the downside, we will act by using all the instruments available within our mandate," said Draghi.

Draghi's statement echoed his remarks in October when he signalled that the ECB stood ready to extend the asset purchase programs, or quantitative easing.

Commenting on the monetary policy measures of the ECB, Draghi said they "clearly worked." "They are probably the dominant force spurring the recovery that we see today," he added.

According to Draghi, the euro area economy is responding to the measures as expected. "...and today we can look at our prospects with cautious confidence," he said.

He reiterated that the ECB has the tools available to provide the appropriate degree of monetary stimulus. Enditem